Stephen Hawking once warned us that our species could soon be wiped out by plagues, asteroids and our tendency to destroy ourselves. The solution, he suggested, was for us to colonise other planets. But Chris Larner and David Gilbert's sci-fi comedy drama sees the truth as being a little more complicated.
Set in the year 2150, Arnold and Gregor work as planetary decontaminators via their own firm, AAA Ace Eco-Friendly Interplanetary Decontamination. Their job is to clean up polluted planets to make them habitable for humans. One such place is Planet Party, where several space tourists have died when landing there. With a big cash award given to anyone who can clean it up, it looks like Arnold and Gregor might do the deadly job.
However, they soon get side-tracked by an alien music box they buy cheap from Joe the Interstellar Junkman which discharges a strangle liquid that dissolves anything it touches. It’s not long before the 87th floor of a skyscraper in Streatham starts to melt, followed by London, and ultimately the entire Earth.
According to the song in the music box, the only thing that can stop the melting is something called "The Laxian Key".
Arnold …. Chris Larner
Gregor …. Mark Bonnar
Evan …. Trevor Cooper
Office …. Alex Lowe
Ferngraum …. Sam Dale
Jo …. Christine Kavanagh
Dolores …. Virge Gilchrist
Virtual Newsreader …. Bethan Walker
with Paul Biggin, Emma Noakes and Joseph Kloska
Written by Chris Larner and David Gilbert
Based on the short stories of Robert Sheckley
Producer Peter Kavanagh
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in February 2007
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